Evaluating the Performance of Mobile Blood Collection Points within the Portuguese Blood System

June 24, 2026

The Portuguese Institute of Blood and Transplantation (IPST) was responsible for 58 % of national whole-blood donations in 2024, corresponding to approximately 175 000 units collected across its three regional centres. The majority of these donations is obtained through temporary mobile sessions, organised in collaboration with schools, companies and local associations. Despite their central role in national self-sufficiency, the operational performance of these sessions has never been systematically characterised at session level. This thesis analyses administrative data from IPST covering 23,673 sessions held in mainland Portugal between 2017 and 2024, totalling 971,510 completed donations. The analysis combines descriptive statistics, multiple linear regression, and a session-level cost model calibrated with the 2025 Portuguese public-sector salary tables. The results reveal pronounced structural heterogeneity: the most productive sessions concentrate in the Northern region, at weekends and in schools, while the lowest-yield sessions concentrate in Greater Lisbon and the Algarve, on weekdays and in public-access settings. The regression identifies donor cohort experience, restricted access, distance from a permanent blood service centre, and the pandemic period as independent operational determinants of yield. Approximately 16 % of brigades exhibit chronically low performance, generating an estimated annual nurse-cost overspend of 234,000 €. The thesis concludes that a reproducible set of structural criteria exists through which IPST can improve resource allocation without compromising the geographic coverage of the system.

Authors in the community:

• 

  M

  Maya Joana Vieira Sampaio

  ist195961

Supervisors of this institution:

• 

  E

  Eduardo Costa

  ist429943

• 

  D

  Daniel Rebelo dos Santos

  ist167904

industrial-biotechnology - Industrial Biotechnology

eng - English

Instituto Superior Técnico